Dead Silence

If nothing else, this derivative tale of a ventriloquist's dummy wreaking murderous havoc on the relatives of those who killed his “master” proves that writer Leigh Whannell and director James Wan—the team that gave us the Saw franchise—are one-trick ponies. There's hardly a scene here that doesn't echo such films as Dead of Night, Magic, The Great Gabbo, or, for that matter, the "Chucky" franchise. Dead Silence opens with newlyweds Jamie (Ryan Kwanten) and Lisa (Laura Regan) receiving an unlabeled package containing an ominous-looking dummy. After Jamie leaves to pick up some takeout food, he returns to find Lisa dead. Now the chief suspect in Lisa's gruesome murder, Jamie (trailed by suspicious Detective Jim Lipton, played by Donnie Wahlberg) returns to his hometown, where he learns that the dummy is possessed by the spirit of Mary Shaw (Judith Roberts), an elderly female ventriloquist wrongfully executed years ago, who is determined to exact vengeance on the descendants of her killers. What follows is a would-be roller-coaster ride of chills involving Jamie, his invalid father, dad's new trophy wife, the local mortician, and the aforementioned cop—as well as Mary and her murderous puppets. But director Wan appropriates so many corny shock effects from earlier movies that it's hard to isolate a single innovative moment in the entire film. Not recommended. [Note: Available in either R rated or unrated widescreen versions, DVD extras include a 12-minute “making-of” featurette, “Mary Shaw's Secrets” character featurette (7 min.), “Evolution of a Visual FX” (4 min.), four minutes of deleted scenes, an alternate ending (4 min.), an alternate opening (2 min.), the music video “We Sleep Forever” performed by Aiden, and trailers. Bottom line: a decent extras package for a lame horror flick.] (E. Hulse)